Terri the turtle heading to Gran Canaria - but now someone needs to pay the bill

Friday 22 January 2016

A rare loggerhead turtle that made a miraculous recovery after being washed up on a Jersey beach could be flying back to Gran Canaria to be released back into the wild next week, if the money can be raised.

New Era Vets say Terri the turtle, who washed up on our shores in a bad way the weekend before last, is now recovering well and they are looking to repatriate her to a rehab centre in Gran Canaria who will release her back into the wild when she's well enough.

Aviation Beauport have generously stepped in to offer to fly the amphibian patient - but now fundraisers need to find thousands of pounds to cover the cost of the flights and they're hoping that companies on the Island will shell out. If not, the turtle will have to go to a UK aquarium.

You can donate to the appeal to raise enough cash for Terri's transport here.

Clinical Director at New Era vets Amanda Smith who's been caring for her since she first arrived, said that they were desperate to get Terri back into the wild.

She said: “We’ve got a jet ready to go but we need to raise all the funds before she goes.

"Timing is of the essence because she’s come so far, she’s in a makeshift facility…she’s at the stage where she needs to start feeding and she needs deeper water to dive down to feed.

"Although we’ve been raising the water level, we’ve raised it as far as we can to keep it that warm, the longer she is in there, there’s more risk of infection, we’ve got a UV filter cleaning it… but we don’t want to take a step backwards when we’ve got this far.."The best option is to get her to Gran Canaria as soon as possible."

"It is a massive amount of money but we’ve been speaking to commercial airlines as well but If we have to transport to the UK and then transport beyond, we want the least amount of stress for her.

"Another option is for her to go to the UK to an aquarium over there.. that’s not something we want but that would be better for her than staying in her tank.

"We've been rehydrating her with fluids, her blood glucose levels were quite high, she’s had antibiotics, she’s so much stronger and more active than the poor turtle she was when she arrived."

"We might look at stomach tubing with blended fish, her normal diet would be crabs, jellyfish, shellfish, but we don’t want to give her hard shells at the moment – we want her digestive system to recover first."

Terri, who's thought to be an endangered Loggerhead turtle, was found by John Battrick who was out walking his dog on Sunday on the stretch of beach between the Dicq Shack and the Rice Bowl in St Clement on Sunday 10 January.

The vets say she was cold stunned with some shell damage and signs of infection.

After an appeal on social media they found a tank big enough for her and worked to raise her temperature which needed to be increased very very slowly by a degree each day. 

If you've got the means to fly her off to a new life in the sun, get in touch with the vets at New Era on 730521.